Tip: buy a Balsamic Vinegar Glaze to avoid reducing balsamic vinegar. It will make this caprese salad quick and easy.

Cut and toss any way you like or layer the mozzarella, tomatoes, & basil in a shallow dish/plate. Drizzle some olive oil & balsamic vinegar. Then, top it off with salt & pepper to taste. Can't get any easier than that.

October 27, 2015

Who doesn't love a good Halloween bash? I sure do! So, I just about died, with excitement, when my son suggested a Halloween Birthday Party.

Check out his Halloween Party made perfect for kids...

The finger food table was decorated with Halloween decor I pulled from the garage. Use what you already have!

Dollar Tree had cute Halloween decorations including the wood signs (Glitter Skulls & the middle sign) for $1 each. Check out your local Dollar Tree to stay on the cheap.

Halloween Finger Food Ideas

White Cheetos: Bag of Bones

Carrots: Witches Fingers

White Chocolate Covered Pretzels: Bones

Homemade Cake Pops: Halloween Sprinkles & Eyeballs

Meat Head

I had just enough ham in my fridge to pull apart and place over this plastic skull head. It was the perfect creepy center piece for the cheese, meat, & cracker plate. His eyes are Wilton's Halloween Gummies.

Graham Crackers with white icing & red gel icing. Just use your finger to dab the red gel icing, so it's nice and bloody. These were so good! I couldn't stop eating them.

Sweet Treats

I made these Halloween cake balls from trimmings of his Halloween birthday cake. The kids had a blast creating the cookies.

Witches Hat Cookies

Flip over a Keebler Fudge Stripe cookie

Trace the hole with Orange Frosting

Top off with a Hershey's Kiss

Skull Cookies

Oreo with a dab of frosting

Place a Wilton Icing Decor on top

These cookies are a great way for the kids to get involved. I do the Oreo cookies every year. You can find any party theme.

Treats*Cake*Punch

My entry console table ended up being the perfect spot for the cake. The Halloween monster punch was easily accessible & the goody bags was ready to grab as the guest left.

More about the Cake

Y'all know how I feel about cake. Your party cake should be the center of the party. No one had to search for the Halloween cake. It was there when they walked in.

I wanted this Witch Cauldron Cake to be easy, but incredible. I asked my son what he thought the Witches Brew Cauldron Cake should have in it. Jax wanted bones, eyeballs, octopus legs, zombie hands & a witch.

He even came up with a story on how the witch was cooking her brew and accidentally fell in. You gotta love the imagination of a six-year-old.

Jax had a great 6th Birthday. He is growing in to a sweet and caring gentleman, just like his daddy. I am one proud Mommy. Do you remember his 1st cowboy birthday? I'll never forget :)

My one regret. I usually get a family picture or a picture with me & the birthday boy, but this time I didn't. I don't know how I forgot. I regret being behind the camera the entire time & not in front of it.

Thank you for following along! Let me know if you have any questions? What's your favorite thing about this Halloween Birthday Party? What would you add to your kids Halloween Bash? I'd love to know.

October 26, 2015

Check out these oranges in the picture I created above. The orange on the left is without primer. Do you see all the "pores"? The orange on the right looked just like the left orange before primer was used. Now, it's smoother and the pores are less visible. Isn't that incredible! It works the same way for your face.

Do you ever wonder what's the purpose in using a makeup primer? Is it a waste a time? Does it do anything? I never used a makeup primer until a few years ago. It's quick, easy, and now I don't wear makeup without.

October 9, 2015

My kids leave their pumpkin buckets all through the house, so I decided to use them as decorations.

I usually toss them into the trash every year, but now I have a better solution.

Stack them under a pumpkin you already have! These can go as tall as you'd like and they come in all different colors. When you top them off with a finished pumpkin (one that isn't for candy) it gives it a more finished look. I added a cake stand to one of the stacks, until my next Walmart or Target trip to grab another dollar pumpkin.

October 4, 2015

My son, Jax, decided on a Halloween themed birthday party this year, and I couldn't have been more excited. I've always wanted to host a Halloween Bash, but deciding on a cake wasn't easy.

With Jaxson's help, we decided to make a witches brew cake! He made sure I added her stir stick, some eyeballs, octopus legs, spiders, zombie hands, bones, and more! Jax even had a story made up on how the witch fell inside her own pot. Don't you just love the imagination of a six year old?

Halloween Party Cake & Thor!

Here is an up close look at our Cauldron Cake without the dry ice.

How to make a Cauldron Pot Cake with Dry Ice:

8" round cake, 9" round cake, & another 8" round cake stacked up

Crumb coat it, & cover it with fondant

Witches legs and stir stick is a wooden cake dowel covered in fondant

The kids rolled up hundreds of green balls for the bubbly brew.

Wilton's Gummies for the Zombie Hands & Eye Balls

Orange and black sprinkles to the top of the cake

For the Dry Ice Effect:

Find a plastic cup the height of the cake

Trace it in the center of the cake

Cut & scooped out the inside of the cake forming a hole for the cup to fit in

Add chunks of dry ice

Add water

Watch it brew

This was a great cake for the kids. Here is Jax adding brown pearl dust to the witches stir stick. He made the green bubbles, added sprinkles & placed all the decorations where he wanted them to go. A fun kid freindly cake! You can't go wrong.

Jax loved his Fondant Witches Cauldron Cake. The dry ice effect was super cool. I definitely earned some major Mommy points. Click this link to see the video of the cake in action and hear the witches pot cake brewing... (it will take you to my fb page)